Norwegian ISP: dig your own fiber trench, save $400

Lyse has become the largest fiber-to-the-home provider in Norway thanks to an …

How did a Norwegian electricity company become the biggest fiber-to-the-home provider in the country? By adopting an innovative business model, offering faster speeds at identical prices, and—most unusual of all—letting customers save a few hundred bucks by digging their own fiber trenches through their backyards. We spoke to the company about the willingness that Norwegians have shown to get involved in laying their own infrastructure.

From power to broadband

Lyse didn't start out as a broadband company; before 2002, it was an electrical company that provided power to about 120,000 Norwegian homes. But it was good at infrastructure building, and in 2002 it decided to jump into the Internet game by deploying fiber to the home. That first year, it had only 500 customers; now, it has more than 130,000, making fiber even more important than electricity.

And that fiber doesn't just supply Internet access. Lyse offers the usual triple play bundle of voice, TV, and Internet, but it is also experimenting with tying home alarm systems and WiFi-equipped mobile phones into the fiber connection (every install comes with a wireless router to make this simple to set up). Users can pay for all these services—plus electrical service—on a single bill.

Lyse's business model is different from companies like Verizon, which is currently rolling out fiber across its service area and then trying to sign up customers. Lyse instead sends people into unserved areas, knocks on all the doors, and passes out information on the new fiber service. Only when 60 percent of the people in an area sign up in advance for the service does Lyse start the actual fiber install.

Sixty percent sounds like a tough threshold, but the company says that it has been "very successful" so far by offering people far greater Internet speeds for the same price they are currently paying. Lyse's Altibox service offers 10Mbps, 30Mbps, or 50Mbps connections—all of them fully symmetrical (upload and download speeds are identical). In many areas, the uptake rate tops 80 percent, though competitors have boosted speeds and started deploying fiber of their own in an effort to retain customers.

Digging the trenches

In addition to entering an area with tremendous support already lined up, Lyse also does something innovative: it allows prospective customers to dig their own fiber trenches from the street to their homes. In return, customers can save about $400. "They can arrange things just the way they want," says Herbj�rn Tjeltveit of Lyse, which makes for happier customers; apparently, nothing angers a Norwegian more than having some faceless corporation tunnel through his flower garden.

The scheme also appeals to a Norwegian sense of thrift and do-it-yourselfness, says Tjeltveit, and he speculates that it has an additional benefit: customers who put some sweat equity into bringing their Internet connection from the street to the basement are more likely to be invested in the product and the company. (The obvious downside is that passionate customers are more likely to complain whenever they see shortcomings in the product.)

So far, 80 percent of all customers have elected to do their own trenching, following the instructions and timeframe provided by the company. A technical team still has to come out to pull the fiber from the street through the ducting to the house and then make the proper termination, but much of the tough manual labor is avoided.

A new fiber deployment can certainly be expensive, but Lyse has insulated itself from much of the risk. The model works, too; the company is now the main fiber-to-the-home provider in Norway, where it covers half the municipalities, and its customer churn rate has stayed quite low. As for the future, Lyse can ramp up the speed dramatically once all that precious fiber is in the ground; its partners are already testing both 100Mbps and 1,000Mbps connections.

"Sixty percent sounds like a tough threshold, but the company says that it has been "very successful" so far by offering people far greater Internet speeds for the same price they are currently paying. Lyse's Altibox service offers 10Mbps, 30Mbps, or 50Mbps connections—all of them fully symmetrical (upload and download speeds are identical). In many areas, the uptake rate tops 80 percent, though competitors have boosted speeds and started deploying fiber of their own in an effort to retain customers."

Ah the joys of a competitive market. Wouldn't know what that means where I live but one can dream. I've said it more than a few times here that I would pay for the fiber install and run the wire myself (by way of an independent contractor), if Verizon or AT&T would just be allowed to be in my neighborhood. I want to get rid of cable and their threats to cap bandwidth. Every home needs two lines(fiber and coax) to the house and the ownership of the line needs to work like water/gas pipes. (I own and am responsible for everything from the node end to the demarcation point inside my house and everything inside my house.

Fortunately, other than avoiding existing underground utilities, there is no electricity involved. (Here in the US we have things like Dig Safe to assist with utility location.) I would imagine that the ISP publishes a spec on how to dig the trench and what conduit/duct to install, and take it from there.

I would very much like to see a program like this in the US. In urban areas it's obviously more complicated, but at least people will have more control over the construction part of the job, and perhaps combine other trenching and landscaping work in the same project. I would install a few extra conduits in parallel just for future expansion and potential competition.

Originally posted by Kressilac:Ah the joys of a competitive market. Wouldn't know what that means where I live but one can dream. I've said it more than a few times here that I would pay for the fiber install and run the wire myself (by way of an independent contractor), if Verizon or AT&T would just be allowed to be in my neighborhood. I want to get rid of cable and their threats to cap bandwidth. Every home needs two lines(fiber and coax) to the house and the ownership of the line needs to work like water/gas pipes. (I own and am responsible for everything from the node end to the demarcation point inside my house and everything inside my house.

Sadly, this only really applies if your living in a urban area of norway.

Originally posted by hobgoblin:Sadly, this only really applies if your living in a urban area of norway.

I don't know if I'd call my hometown urban exactly, and they serve us, though through a local company.(Haugesund btw, if you're Norwegian (population of roughly 30 000 for those who aren't (we have about as many hedges as we have people (now I'm just sticking in brackets for the hell of it))))

Originally posted by SedsAtArs:(now I'm just sticking in brackets for the hell of it))))

Had the pleasure of coding in LISP?

quote:

Originally posted by Ostracus:One should be more worried about people doing the job right, than the issue of cost.

And you think some disgruntled American employee on a temporary contract is going to do it right??? I think in America there would be too many liability issues, and even if frivolous lawsuits weren't a problem, there's justifiable fear that someone (or another company) would try to game the system somehow.

And you think some disgruntled American employee on a temporary contract is going to do it right??? I think in America there would be too many liability issues, and even if frivolous lawsuits weren't a problem, there's justifiable fear that someone (or another company) would try to game the system somehow.

Not all of us are lazy. Some of us take pride in doing things ourselves. Unfortunately, I could see someone starting a fly-by-night business of this in Texas. Hire some Mexican immigrants at the local Home Depot, and hit up houses to dig the trench for $100. Pay out about $25 for the labor, and pocket $75. The home owner only nets a $300 savings since they paid out $100 for labor, but if you got a system down, you could do tons of houses a day and rake in the dough. Immigrant labor is exploited alot like that here, sometimes by their own kind (IE: by Mexican folks who are legally here and speak English taking advantage of Mexican immigrants).

And you think some disgruntled American employee on a temporary contract is going to do it right???

quote:

Not to mention that most Americans are just plain old lazy...

Ok, gratuitous union-worker joke:

A road crew drives out to the site and everyone gets out of the trucks. The job foreman discovers that they forgot to bring their tools. He says to the workers, "I'm going to drive back to the yard to get the shovels, but in the meantime you guys will just have to lean on each other."

Fortunately, other than avoiding existing underground utilities, there is no electricity involved. (Here in the US we have things like Dig Safe to assist with utility location.) I would imagine that the ISP publishes a spec on how to dig the trench and what conduit/duct to install, and take it from there.

I would very much like to see a program like this in the US. In urban areas it's obviously more complicated, but at least people will have more control over the construction part of the job, and perhaps combine other trenching and landscaping work in the same project. I would install a few extra conduits in parallel just for future expansion and potential competition.

Yah right. Sorry to be the pessimist but you know within the first week someone will hit a power line or gas line and kill themselves, which will put the practice on hold indefinitely as the lawyers are parachuting out of a drop plane into the deceased next of kin's back yard.. Just because you have a wonderful service like digsafe doesn't mean people are going to use it.

Originally posted by siliconaddict:Yah right. Sorry to be the pessimist but you know within the first week someone will hit a power line or gas line and kill themselves, which will put the practice on hold indefinitely as the lawyers are parachuting out of a drop plane into the deceased next of kin's back yard.. Just because you have a wonderful service like digsafe doesn't mean people are going to use it.

Actually, I agree with your sentiment in terms of lawsuit-happy idiots doing stupid things. So to clarify; this makes sense in the US to the extent that the property owner complies with all local codes and practices. After all, people add and change underground services all the time. If the local code allows people to truly do things themselves, right down to stomping on the shovel, there's nothing new here, other than the fact that the ISP offers the option of such construction to be undertaken by the customer and not their own crew. Presumably the ISP would also offer to do the digging themselves, and charge accordingly (ie. a lot).

As it stands now, the idea of the customer providing the conduit instead of the ISP is a bit rare in the US. I'm hoping that something like this sets a new precedent, and potentially shifts the cost barrier for build-outs to something more favorable to the DIY customer. (And I assume that this is already done in new housing developments. If not, the developer should be fired with no bail-out cookie from Uncle Sam.)

Originally posted by MorpheusNOR:As the article states, people are only allowed to dig from the street and into their own yard, not on public property etc. So the risk of digging out a power/gas(rare)/water main is slim.

Not always. At my sister's house the gas line from the street is only two feet underground, and runs alongside a long driveway. Digging a new trench for conduits could very well cross its path.

I assume the standard installation would have the property owner supply a splicing box at the edge of the property, with the ISP connecting to it from the street (or other right of way). But getting from the house to the splice box is the part that entails risk of hitting other utilities. And with older property passing through numerous owners over time, the underground pipes might not be well documented.

Originally posted by dlux:I assume the standard installation would have the property owner supply a splicing box at the edge of the property, with the ISP connecting to it from the street (or other right of way).

Roughly how it went:*The company set up their node or whatever at a central point of our neighbourhood.*They dug up pretty much all the roads nearby, leaving a roll of about an inch thick orange cable at all the would-be customer's property edges.*The customers dug their ditch and stuck the orange cable in it.*Their people installed a box in their homes, and blew the fibre through the hollow orange cable all the way to it, then spliced what needed splicing.

Other notes:I'm not sure, but we may have stricter regulations on how deep you have to dig electrical wiring and gas lines, besides, gas lines are very rare here (unless you live in a new neighbourhood, it has traditionally been viewed as unsafe in these parts).

Hats off that shows a lot about people that they can cooperate so well. In the us the cable companys have blocked these kind of things with lawsuits.

Are there unified building codes in Norway? This seems to be spreading far faster than it ever could in the US. There are options to dig your own trenches for utilities in my area the biggest cost is often overhead not the actual labor it takes endless building code hurtles for a businesses to do something simple like dig a trench. One person and a phone call to check for underground lines instead of five.

Originally posted by PaulWTAMU:Novel and interesting. Sadly, I live on caliche, and it'd be more than worth it to pay them the install, at least if these trenches are as big as I'd imagine. Also, I live in Texas, not Norway.

You're lucky, depending on the part of Texas you could be living with limestone a few inches below the grass. Trenching through that requires a lot of work with heavy equipment and/or dynamite.

Hats off that shows a lot about people that they can cooperate so well. In the us the cable companys have blocked these kind of things with lawsuits.

Are there unified building codes in Norway? This seems to be spreading far faster than it ever could in the US. There are options to dig your own trenches for utilities in my area the biggest cost is often overhead not the actual labor it takes endless building code hurtles for a businesses to do something simple like dig a trench. One person and a phone call to check for underground lines instead of five.

While i'm not up to speed on the specifics, yes i do think there is.

Lets just say that for all the effort the right wing parties have put in, we still have a fondness for top down government.

Concerning the safety of doing the digging yourself, this is how Lyse actually do it (i used to work in their first-tier customer support, and also, i have Lyse as my home ISP):

Once the decision to build the fiber network is made, they dig up the main street. In the hole, they lay down the backbone fiber, which goes into junction boxes at regular intervals down the street. Then, they lay out a tube (just a bright orange plastic tube) from the closest junction box to each of the houses along the street (even if the owner of hte house hasn't signed up for the service). This tube is just left on each property with a couple of meters excess tube while the street is re-paved. You now have several weeks in which you (if you have signed up for the ISP service, as well as chosen to do the digging yourself) dig a trench that follows a certain set of regulations (depth, width and so on) from where the tube comes onto your property, and over to your house to where you would like the fiber central in the house to be. Then, you report back to Lyse to tell them that everything is done and ready for installation. Then, once the actual connection begins (this could be weeks after the tube has been laid down), the connection crews come along, open up the junction box in the street, then they basically just blow the thin fibers into the orange tube from the junction end using pressurized air, and eventually, the fiber comes out of the other end, inside the house. Then, the fiber is fused to the connectors at both ends, and voilá, you are connected! Genious system!

Being a fairly lowbrow guy with few "urban needs", I'd say I am. I sometimes wish there were more concerts here, but then most the acts I care for only stop by Oslo if that, and there's nothing that'd drive me to live there. I can always travel abroad if there's something I really want to see, England isn't that far away.

Being a fairly lowbrow guy with few "urban needs", I'd say I am. I sometimes wish there were more concerts here, but then most the acts I care for only stop by Oslo if that, and there's nothing that'd drive me to live there. I can always travel abroad if there's something I really want to see, England isn't that far away.

heh, i see i should have worded it differently, as i was wondering more if you where happy if i defined your area of living as suburbia, as i suspect it would not fit the definition of rural...